Follow Blog via Email

Day 8

The nest continues to thrive. It has been quite cold the last couple of days, especially at night, so there’s been less activity than at first. I may have to investigate heating mats which you can buy to heat part of your formicarium, but since summer is around the corner I think I’ll hold off for now and see what happens.

Made some sugar water with a drop of honey mixed with water yesterday. I put it in the outworld, but it doesn’t look like the ants visit there anymore so that’s tricky.

I put 1 drop in the top of the formicarium, but the sand just crumbles instantly and if the ants don’t eat it it could lead to mould so probably won’t do that again.

I wish I could get pictures of all the ants bundled around the queen in the main chamber, which seems to be getting larger, at the top of the nest, but as soon as I take the tea towel off the formicarium and the light shines in the ants freak out and scarper down the tunnels.

They keep moving the little bundle of eggs around the nest, and the bundle seems to be a bit bigger so either they’ve put more eggs together or they’re growing a little. Hopefully that means everything is simply going well and everyone’s healthy. Can’t wait until the eggs turn into larvae, then pupae, then develop into the different types of worker ants.

As you will see in the last picture, the seed germination is also going well.